Chapter 41
Chapter 41
Iron Emperor — Chapter 41
"What's going on?"
While Buru had dashed off, Go Jin-cheon, Uru, and the others were asking what had happened. Just then, Buyeo Gi-yul ran up, prostrated himself, and began his report.
"General, I have a report. While on forward watch, we heard screams from the forest and, upon investigating, found about ten people covered in blood and fleeing this way. We observed orcs in pursuit, deployed the archers already on alert to break them, and General Buru then personally led cavalry out to secure the perimeter and rescue the survivors."
"Is that so?"
As Uru received the report, Jin-cheon stood tall before the opened gate and gazed at the scene unfolding beyond. Orc corpses riddled with arrows and scattered across the ground met his eyes.
"Kiiiieeeek!"
"Hmm."
An orc's death-cry echoed from within the forest, and Jin-cheon's brow furrowed. Off to one side, Buru was returning, sheltering the people who had been chased.
"A shame."
Jin-cheon merely spoke those words, his face full of regret, though what exactly he meant was unclear.
A short while later, the people Buru had brought in looked considerably exhausted. And behind them, a cavalry unit led by Ung-sam at its head returned.
"Reporting! We have completely wiped out the remaining orcs, leaving not one behind!"
"......."
Ung-sam leaped from his horse, prostrated himself, and reported in a bold, booming voice. But Jin-cheon offered no praise, no word of a job well done, and simply kept silent. In that moment, Ung-sam saw the two creases etched between Jin-cheon's brows and, struck by sudden unease, hurriedly opened his mouth again.
"W-well then, I'll go and disarm!"
And with that, Ung-sam retreated from the spot even faster than when he had sallied out.
The roughly ten people were slash-and-burn farmers from another nearby settlement, driven to flee by an unprecedented large-scale orc raid. Their own village had been utterly destroyed, and the survivors had scattered, searching for other slash-and-burn villages through the hunters.
"Has anything like this happened before?"
Beron and Darun stood to one side of the hastily assembled generals. The thinking was that those who had lived here a long time would know this region better.
"Supreme One of All Heavens, who embraces all people and all things......"
"That's enough."
When they, too, at some point began launching into the long-drawn-out formal address, Go Jin-cheon cut them off and shot a brief glare at Dae Mu-deok. But Dae Mu-deok's gaze was already elsewhere. Beron, who had been hesitating, bowed deeply and spoke.
"There have been orc attacks before, but never to the degree of reducing an entire village to ashes, as has happened now."
"Moreover, the orcs would usually retreat once they took casualties, so normally there wasn't this level of damage."
At Darun's explanation following Beron's answer, Jin-cheon sank into deep thought. What they were saying, in short, was that something unprecedented had occurred.
Just then, a soldier's voice announcing the entry of Ung-sam and Hawk rang into the Imperial Hall from outside the gate. Hawk's gait, as Ung-sam brought him in, still seemed slightly unnatural, though he showed no sign of pain.
"All Heavens......"
"Skip the formalities and report."
Jin-cheon's voice, betraying his clear intention to alter the greeting customs immediately, shot out quickly. Ung-sam, who had opened his mouth only to close it with an awkward look, nodded toward Hawk. Hawk then bowed his head and spoke.
"In truth, in the case of our village, the orcs' stirrings had been intensifying for some time."
"To what degree?"
When Hwi-garam asked in detail on behalf of Jin-cheon, Hawk opened his mouth again.
"Before, it was only at a threatening level, but around four months ago, their numbers began to increase. That was also why we were unable to prepare in advance for Baron Alvin's attack. Orcs suddenly began moving in large groups along the routes we normally traveled, blocking those paths, and it seems Baron Alvin's forces came through having killed a small number of them."
"By the existing routes, do you not mean the territories of each monster, which they do not trespass upon?"
When Hwi-garam asked with a face full of doubt, Hawk bowed his head again, as if troubled himself, and answered.
"That was certainly the case."
"Hmm."
At Hawk's reply, Hwi-garam tilted his head slightly and sank into thought. Jin-cheon simply watched him. After a moment, Hwi-garam raised his head as if he'd finished sorting through his thoughts.
"It seems to be a collapse of territorial boundaries."
"Elaborate."
Jin-cheon asked Hwi-garam again in a quiet tone. Hwi-garam then directed a question toward Beron.
"Beron, how many slash-and-burn villages do you think are located in this mountain range?"
Beron bowed his head in thought at Jin-cheon's question and then replied.
"I believe there are roughly twenty or so."
"Then they would be situated as though encircling the mountain range's branches. Is that correct?"
"Yes, for the most part. There won't be any deeper in. And indeed, the villages were not formed just a year or two ago; many have settled here over a considerable time."
"Your Majesty, if their words are true, then territories of the orcs and territories of the slash-and-burn farmers had existed and been maintained over a long period. And the orcs, too, lived with their own defined territories."
As Hwi-garam explained, Risel, standing to one side, nodded and added his own reply.
"That is correct. Orcs live in tribal units, so armed clashes even break out among themselves. Hence, territories exist between them as well."
Once Risel's words had passed, Hwi-garam nodded and continued his explanation to Jin-cheon.
"The issue is that, in Hawk's village's case, orc groups of an unprecedented scale began appearing about four months ago — which is after Beron's village was annihilated. Moreover, as we settled here and hunted daily, the orc groups in this area vanished. Ultimately, as this area's territory became our territory, the boundary maintained here until now collapsed."
"I see."
"Had the orcs merely diminished in number, that would be one thing, but with Beron's village annihilated, the surviving orcs and the orcs observed in this area would have been pushed elsewhere. That coincides with when they began appearing at Hawk's village. Furthermore, as even Hawk's village was broken apart by Baron Alvin's forces, the orcs, having lost their previous targets, grew their numbers and began targeting other villages. Now, with yet another village collapsing, it is judged that the resulting power vacuum will only grow larger."
After Hwi-garam's explanation, those inside the Imperial Hall began nodding their heads unbidden.
"So the remaining villages are now in danger."
"Yes."
"Their locations?"
At Jin-cheon's words, Hwi-garam bowed his head and answered.
"We have already managed to ascertain the locations of the other villages to some degree."
"......!"
At Hwi-garam's words, Beron, Risel, Gerard, and the others could not hide the astonishment on their faces. They were amazed at the ability of these men to find the slash-and-burn villages in such harsh, rugged terrain. Only after those words did it become clear why Hwi-garam knew the villages were not in the mountain range's center but only formed around its periphery. It meant he had been confirming what he had already identified.
The reason the Gauri army had been able to discover this was, first and foremost, because they were a hunting people from the start. Gauri held a hunting competition every year to cultivate martial spirit, so it was to be expected that everyone, without exception, could handle a bow and that each person could track game. And the soldiers themselves were perhaps the finest hunters of all.
"That's convenient."
Jin-cheon's eyes gleamed, and a smile touched his lips.
Chapter 12 — We're Heading Out to Hunt Some Pigs!
"Shall we proceed?"
Jin-cheon's voice was low, but not so quiet that anyone in the Imperial Hall could fail to hear it. When Hwi-garam asked, as if guessing his intent, the smile on Jin-cheon's lips began to deepen. Presently, the smile vanished from his face, and at the same moment, his mouth opened.
"Hwi, what are our total mobilizable forces?"
"Excluding the garrison and the minimum defensive personnel, approximately one thousand men are available."
"We will also take the recruits and slaves with us."
"......!"
At Jin-cheon's words, everyone stared at him with surprised eyes. He was literally saying he would take the entirety of their available manpower.
Even when facing Baron Alvin's punitive force, about eight hundred had moved, but this time, even more would be committed. The "slaves" he referred to meant the villagers, excluding Hawk, who had volunteered for sacrifice, and the other six families.
"In that case, the total will be just over twelve hundred."
"Good. It is a battle."
The moment Jin-cheon's words fell, the commanders' eyes began shining. At some point, the atmosphere in the Imperial Hall had shifted, as if it had become a war council for an operation. Rising from the Throne of Yeolje, Jin-cheon began calling out to the commanders inside the hall.
"Expedition preparations begin this very moment. As always, I will not permit even a single casualty. This battle — no, it is not a battle. Heh heh heh."
"......."
As Jin-cheon spoke, he began to laugh eerily. For a moment, the people were perplexed by his laughter. Then, with his laughter cut off abruptly, Jin-cheon shouted in a great voice.
"This sally is a hunting competition! I shall grant rewards to the unit that catches the most pigs!"
"Yiaaaaaa!"
"Waaaaah!"
Jin-cheon's declaration of rewards shook the Imperial Hall.
In the current situation, Gerard found the brain structure of these humans — who were cheering and shouting with joy — deeply suspect. The monsters of the Reganza Mountains were something even punitive expeditions avoided, and yet they were not merely killing them but capturing them, and furthermore delighting in it as though it were a competition tallying the catch. For Gerard, who had never properly witnessed these people's combat, it was a perfectly natural reaction.
Once the conference in the Imperial Hall ended, the news was passed to the lower-ranking officers waiting in front of the hall. And that news echoed outward to all the soldiers.
"Yiyayaya!"
"We're heading out to hunt some pigs!"
"Rewards!"
"Bring out the horses!"
Rather than a desperately urgent scramble, the situation was turning vibrantly energetic, leaving even the residents bewildered. Among them, those gripped by anxiety were the just-under-forty recruits and the village girls who had married Gauri soldiers.
"Be careful."
"Don't worry."
For them, war still meant that death was close. A deeply rooted sense of victimhood remained within them. Because, to them, a soldier was an expendable commodity, used up upon reaching the battlefield.
And perhaps for that reason, they still did not understand what kind of unit they now belonged to. That was exactly what Jin-cheon was aiming for. He wanted them to see his power with their own eyes, and moreover, through that power, to transform their sense of victimhood from within.
* * *
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The drums shook the encampment, and before them, twelve hundred elite soldiers stood arrayed in motionless ranks, the edges of their spears and swords gleaming alongside the light in their eyes. They awaited their Yeolje without letting a single breath be heard.
Clop, clop, clop.
Prrrrrr.
Go Jin-cheon, fully armored in Chalgap, appeared before the assembled soldiers atop Gangsoe, who snorted a fierce breath and stepped forward with ponderous footfalls. The soldiers' eyes, utterly unwavering, anticipated the words Jin-cheon would deliver to them.
"We are......"
Jin-cheon's speech rolled out toward the soldiers — low, yet threaded with composure.
"not waging a war right now."
"......."
The soldiers listening showed not a sliver of doubt in their eyes. If Jin-cheon said no, then no it was. Only the residents, aside from the Gauri people, found it difficult to take his words at face value.
"It is merely a hunting competition."
Jin-cheon was calling it a hunting competition, a festival routinely held even in normal times in Gauri. Having spoken thus far, Jin-cheon swept his gaze across the soldiers as though studying each individually. At the moment he felt he had met the eyes of the very last soldier at the far end, Jin-cheon paused, then asked once more.
"Is there any man here who wishes to be a fool killed by his own quarry?!"
"No!"
"Is there anyone who wishes to be a fool mauled by his quarry?!"
"No!"
The soldiers' voices returned as a single, unified answer to Jin-cheon's questions. As if pleased by their confidence, the corner of Jin-cheon's mouth lifted in satisfaction.
"A man injured by his quarry is a fool."
"We obey!"
The soldiers' voices grew louder.
"Should even a single man be injured, I shall hold the commanders above him responsible."
"We obey!"
"Good. Now, raise your swords!"
"Uwaaaaaah!"
The soldiers' resolve was more than enough to shake heaven and earth. Among them, even the residents, as though swept up by their fighting spirit, could not calm their pounding hearts. The unease they had felt until now was being blown away by the sight of these soldiers.
It was only then that the residents, once again, recalled the martial prowess these soldiers had shown when saving them. In place of the vanished anxiety, reassurance and trust were taking root. A vigorous cry to advance burst from the throat of a satisfied Jin-cheon.
"Sally forth!"
"Chuuuuuuul! (Advance!)"
"Sally forth!"
As if in answer to Jin-cheon's voice, the long-drawn cry of the soldiers followed, and answering shouts came from the soldiers raising the gate.
"Open the gate!"
"Gae-muuuuuun! (Open the gate!)"
Crrrrrreak.
"Hyah!"
"Ha-ya!"
The gate swung open, and with roughly eighty horsemen at the vanguard, the soldiers' steps marched out powerfully behind them. The slaves drove carts behind that, and at the very rear, nearly twenty horsemen rode along as if escorting them. Though it was a column of twelve hundred, their speed in pouring out through the gate faced no obstruction at all.